A narrow energy bill which Harry Reid scaled back from earlier, more grandiose ambitions is likely to be pushed back until after the midterm elections, said the Senate Majority Leader on a conference call today. However, he did offer renewed hope, for the first time in a while, that the bill could include a renewable energy standard, mandating a percentage of electricity to be generated from renewable sources.

This is pretty good news. It’s important to note that the death of climate legislation does not mean the death of carbon regulation. It just moves it into a new phase, where the EPA takes the lead. And the Administration will protect that privilege.

Harry Reid has a draft of a climate and energy bill that he plans to bring to the Senate floor within a couple weeks, the Majority Leader said. That would begin the climate debate right around the end of the July work period, so I don’t know what that means for pushing back the deadline on the August recess; it could mean that Reid just wants a vote to highlight GOP obstructionism.